Sung Min (swimmer)

Sung Min
Personal information
Nationality  South Korea
Born 15 October 1982
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle, backstroke
This is a Korean name; the family name is Seong.

Sung Min (also Seong Min, Korean: 성 민; born October 15, 1982) is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and backstroke events.[1] He is a three-time Olympian, and a multiple-time national champion and record holder for the relay freestyle and backstroke events (50, 100, and 200 m). Sung had also won a total of five bronze medals, including one from the 50 m backstroke, at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, and at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.[2]

Swimming career

Sung made his official debut, as an 18-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he competed in the men's 100 m backstroke. He posted a lifetime best of 57.12 to lead the second heat by exactly one second ahead of Uruguay's Diego Gallo, but finished only in thirty-first place from the preliminaries.[3] Two years later, Sung won two bronze medals, as a member of the South Korean swimming team, in the men's 400 m freestyle and medley relay at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, with a total time of 3:23.58 and 3:46.44, respectively.[2]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Sung failed to reach the top 16 in any of his individual events, finishing thirtieth in the 100 m backstroke (56.78), and thirty-second in the 200 m backstroke (2:04.86).[4][5][6][7]

At the 2005 Summer Universiade in Izmir, Turkey, Sung defeated Japan's Masafumi Yamaguchi and United States' Matt Grevers to earn a silver medal by two hundredths of a second (0.02) in the 50 m backstroke, posting a lifetime best of 25.59.[8] The following year, he snared the bronze medal in the same event at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, lowering his time at 25.57 seconds.[9]

Eight years after competing in his first Olympics, Sung qualified for his third South Korean team, as a 25-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He broke a new South Korean record and cleared a FINA B-cut time of 55.43 (100 m backstroke) from the Good Luck Beijing China Open.[10][11] In the 100 m backstroke, Sung challenged seven other swimmers on the third heat, including five-time Olympian Derya Büyükuncu of Turkey. He finished ahead of France's Benjamin Stasiulis in fourth place by a nine hundredth (0.09) margin, lowering his Olympic time to 54.99 seconds. Sung failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed twenty-third out of 45 swimmers in the evening preliminaries.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Sung Min". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "China and Japan Share the Gold on Day 5 of Asian Games; China's Wu and Xu Shine". Swimming World Magazine. 4 October 2002. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 100m Backstroke Heat 2" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 274. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Men's 100m Backstroke Heat 2". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Thomas, Stephen (15 August 2004). "Men’s 100 Backstroke Prelims: Japan’s Morita Surprises with Fastest Time; Americans Cruise Through". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Men's 200m Backstroke Heat 2". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "Men’s 200 Backstroke Prelims, Day 5: Peirsol Looks Good for a Dorsal Double". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Universiade: Harvest Day for US, China". Xinhua News Agency (China Org). 15 August 2005. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  9. ↑ Marsteller, Jason (7 December 2006). "Park Snares Second Asian Record, Japan Wins Medal Count as Asian Games Come to a Close". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "Good Luck Beijing China Open: Day Five Finals". Swimming World Magazine. 3 February 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Olympic Cut Sheet – Men's 100m Backstroke" (PDF). Swimming World Magazine. p. 22. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Men's 100m Backstroke Heat 2". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 18 January 2013.

External links